Farm Bill Background

ACTION ALERT: Urge U.S. House Members to Oppose Farm Bill Extension Proposal

July30,2012

House Farm Bill Extension a Rotten Deal

U.S. House leadership has schemed to extend their favored Farm Bill provisions and kill any chances for needed reform and investments in agriculture policy. A one year “extension” of current farm policy was contrived late last week, and is to be voted on Wednesday, Aug. 1. The proposal keeps in place big commodity crop supports and adds generous disaster relief.

If this attempted backdoor action succeeds, the American people will lose critical public investments in soil and water conservation, beginning farmers, organics, local food systems and rural development. Adding insult to injury, the dirty extension accomplishes virtually no reform to commodity programs or crop insurance subsidies — two areas with billions in spending and waste.

The current farm bill expires on Sept. 30, 2012, and this extension is a move by the Republican leadership of the U.S. House to avoid a real Farm Bill debate and instead keep the stream of money and resources flowing to corporate ag interests. While the extension provides some resources for food support and nutrition programs, it would only be short-term; this deal runs the risk of imposing massive cuts to those programs in the future when the proposed one-year extension expires.

Call U.S. House of Representative members today.

Urge them to oppose the U.S. House one-year Farm Bill extension expected for a vote this Wednesday. It is a rotten deal for taxpayers, farmers and our environment.

How to call:

If you don’t know your U.S. House of Representative’s number, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. The vote on this one-year extension is going to be close and it is unclear if the votes are there to pass it. Making sure U.S. House members know the American people are against this rotten deal could spell doom for this poorly conceived and unbalanced proposal.

Please call today and leave a message with your U.S. Representative’s office. When you call, make sure to tell them who you are and where you’re from.